Don J
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Gawd, what a question. I have lived here for 12 years and have had just so many really great vacations. Stayed 4 days All-Inclusive, 5 star Casa Magna in Vallarta, (sucked big time), 3 days on a tight budget, $35 a night at beach hotel at Pie de la Cuesta north of Acapulco (fabulous), but the best would have to be two years ago.
We were living in the northern part of the Mexico City area and I wanted to find the closest beach. It turned out to be north-east about 250 miles on the Vera Cruz coast, just past the oil city of Poza Rica a little town called "Tecolutla." I searched the net for infomation but it was extermely skimpy and only in Spanish. I did see that there were beaches and very reasonalble hotels, but not many pictures. It seemed to be the same driving time as Acapulco but without the huge drive from one end of Mexico City to the other to start and without the 1200 pesos ($110.00) of highway tolls for the both ways.
We were tight at the time so we said "what the hell, lets give it a shot." The trip was about 4 hours through the gourgeous Sierra Madre Orientales, and was spectacular to say the least. Coming down to the Vera Cruz coastal area it is just so green, lush and full of fantastic trees, exotic flowers and beautiful birds. There are dozens of roadside stands selling friuits especially the three types of Vera Cruz bananas. Huge ones for frying, small thumb size, the most delicious, and the regular "Chiquita-style."
We passed through the world famous pyramid at the Tajin site, then past the town of Papantla (home of the famous voladores - the "rope flyers," and center of Mexiican vanilla production and products!, mmmmmm). 20 minutes later we arrived in Tecolutla. Its a small town of a few thousand totally dedicated to "local" tourism.
We quickly found a great hotel on the beach for $45. We ate a great meal at a small stand on the beach and we relaxed. The beach was simply fabulous. We swam in one of the warmest waters I have ever experienced. There was a hurricane passing about 250 miles out in the Gulf which gave us winds of about 25 mph on the beach, this was building 6 foot high waves that were heavenly to ride. The temperature was over 100 F but with the wind and water you could alternate between hot and cool all day.
The guys who rented us the "papalpa" chairs and hammocks also provided us with cold beers, snacks and sodas all day. (A beer went for $1.00!) I think we paid less than $5.00 rent for the stuff!
We met a family with a son a year younger than our boy and another two years older they all got along wonderfully and played together for three days solid! These people live close to us in the DF and their families had been coming to Tecolutla for 50 years or more! We asked them for a good seafood restaurant. They told us the Lazy Shrimp, best in town, but watch out for the line up.
Sure enough it was a half hour wait to get in. That was at an "off-hour" its an hour wait normally. Nothing fancy just really excellent seafood and literally "from the hook to your plate." A delicious filet of "papano" was $4.50. We ate there every day!
The docks on the river side of town offer tours of the mangrove swamps from where English, American and Spanish pirates used to have their hideouts to raid up and down the Vera Cruz coast. It is full of the famous red crabs and alligators. During the tour the guide tells you the story of the famous alligator-man who has a pet gater in his boat and sells fabulous serbets and ice creams along the river. We turn a bend and lo and behold, there he is, the "alliagtor man" himself selling his justly famous lemon serbet out in the middle of the river with his trusty 7 foot long alligator lazing along the two back seats of his boat!
It was still 101 F and ice cream never tasted that good! In the evening we stolled the town along with the other Mexican tourists from Oaxaca, Tuxpam, Vera Cruz, Nautla and Xalapa. We ate delicious tacos al pastor at a stand owned by a recent arrival from Monterrey and after a refreshing cool dip in the pool we fell asleep to the melodies of jarochos and marimbas off in the distance.
The people were some of the most friendly and open I have met anywhere, the food was excellent, plentiful and cheap. The ocean was a "10." we had one of the best times of our lives. If you could have visited Acapulco 70 years ago or Vallarta 50 years ago, this is probably what they would have looked like!
Last year at Easter, we offered my son the choice, spend a long weekend at one of the top hotels in Cancun or revisit Tecolutla, he replied without a second's hesitation, "Tecolutla!" |
JayPue
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I've been living in Mexico for about 10 years now and the truth is, I've loved everywhere I've traveled but it depends on what your looking for. If you don't mind big crowds and spending a lot of money I recommend everything south of Cancun (including Cancun for the nightlife and other activities) like Xel-Ha, Xcaret, Tulum, etc. If you want something cheaper and with less people go to Cuetzalan in the state of Puebla or Catemaco and Monte Pio in the state of Veracruz. I could recommend many other places if you want to drop me a line, js12577@yahoo.com. |
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